


Puppy eyes

by oui_oui_mon_ami



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And hide it from the People In Charge, Fluff, In which Hamilton and Jefferson adopt a dog, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Thomas is v smitten, but I love that trope, forgive me lin, well a mattress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-17 15:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10596891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oui_oui_mon_ami/pseuds/oui_oui_mon_ami
Summary: Hamilton bursts into the room Thomas shares with him with an unexpected present.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as one of those short things that I do to try and get to sleep and turned out as a three-chapter Mega-thing that I'm going to post every day just in time for Jefferson's birthday on Thursday (at least I hope I'll be done by then - I haven't quite finished the last chapter and I still have two essays to write for next week lmao)
> 
> Shoutout to @AsguardianAgentSuperSoldier (i still don't know if tags work lol i'm not good with technology) for helping me out with ideas for the ending and spotting my not-so-subtle reference to my own dog (whom Philip is sorta modelled off of except my dog's bigger and floofier)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dog is acquired.

“Jefferson, we have to talk.”

Thomas groaned as his obnoxious roommate burst through the door, already talking to him. The guy never seemed to stop talking. Nevertheless, he decided to humour Hamilton as he knew that the immigrant could be incredibly stubborn when he wanted to be. “What do you want, Hamilton?” he asked, sitting up on his bed.

Hamilton stood in the middle of their shared room, shifting from foot to foot nervously, holding a large duffel bag that Thomas had never seen before. “I need your help with something.”

That got Thomas’ attention. Hamilton was usually too proud to ask for help from anyone, let alone his arch rival. “Stop the press. The great Alexander Hamilton needs help? This is truly a day that must go down in history,” he teased.

Hamilton glared at him. “This is serious, Jefferson!” he hissed. “I… may have brought a dog onto campus.”

Thomas frowned. “Pets aren’t allowed on campus.”

“I know that!” Hamilton snapped. “But there was a stray dog on the street with no collar or anything, and I just… took it? I’m not entirely sure why? But you have to help me keep it a secret.”

“Woah, there,” Thomas said, holding up a hand to stop Hamilton before he could continue. “I never said we could keep the dog. Where is it, anyway?”

Hamilton smiled sheepishly, gently setting the duffel bag on the floor between them and unzipping it. A small head of golden fur poked out and gazed around the room.

Thomas had to mentally restrain himself from going “aaawww.” No, he was going to be firm about this. “No. We can’t have a dog running around our room. What if it barks? What if it shits on our homework?”

Hamilton picked the dog up. “It’s not an _it_. It’s a _he_. And he’s very well behaved. He didn’t bark on the way up here.”

As cute as the dog was nestled in Hamilton’s arms, Thomas still wasn’t prepared to say yes. “We have no idea how to look after a dog. We’d need food, he needs to be exercised, he needs toys. He probably needs other dogs to socialise with. He’d be living a miserable life here.”

“It would still be better than life on the street, where he’ll probably get caught and sent to the pound, and then he’d most likely get killed!” Hamilton cried. Thomas was startled by the sudden rise in volume, and were those… _tears_ in Hamilton’s eyes?

 _Fuck_.

He couldn’t believe he was doing this.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But you’re taking main responsibility for him.”

Hamilton frowned, hope sparkling in his eyes. “Really?” he asked uncertainly. Thomas had never heard such a hesitant tone come out of the immigrant’s mouth.

He nodded.

Immediately Hamilton was practically on top of him, wrapping the arm that wasn’t holding the dog around Thomas’ waist. Thomas froze, not expecting the hug at all. But Hamilton was oddly warm, and the dog was actually pretty soft…

Hamilton seemed to come to his senses and pulled back quickly, not meeting Thomas’ eyes, a blush spreading across his cheeks. He set the dog down so that he could go and explore their room. “I… um… I have no idea why I did that,” he said.

Thomas felt his own face heat up, and he turned away from Hamilton, busying himself with packing his things for class. “Don’t worry about it. I have class now, but I’ll pick up some dog food on my way back.”

Hamilton nodded. “That sounds good,” he replied, before adding “thank you.”

“No problem,” Thomas replied. “Maybe I’ll actually get some interesting company out of this dog.”

\---

“I’ve decided to call him Philip,” Hamilton announced as soon as Thomas entered the room.

The Virginian frowned. “Philip? What the fuck? That’s a ridiculous name.” He sat down on the floor next to Hamilton as the dog greeted him with a wagging tail and a wet tongue.

Hamilton was scowling at him. “Do you have any better ideas?” he challenged.

“Like, literally anything else?” He ran his fingers through the dog’s soft golden curls. “Felix? It’s Latin for “lucky”, which he is, seeing as we probably saved him from death.”

“I do know Latin, Jefferson,” Hamilton shot back. “And that’s a stupid name.”

“How about Theodore? Teddy for short.”

Hamilton snorted. “After the president? How patriotic. Also shitty. I still vote Philip, seeing as you haven’t managed to come up with any better suggestions.”

“And what makes you think that your suggestion is more valid than mine?” Thomas asked, crossing his arms.

“The fact that I have more responsibility over him. You said so yourself. And I took him for a walk while you were gone.”

Thomas’ mouth dropped open. “You walked him? How were you not caught?” he asked.

Hamilton shrugged. “I didn’t go outside,” he replied. “I knew your obnoxious running machine would come in handy someday.”

“Impressive,” Thomas commented. The dog curled up in his lap, making him smile a little.

Hamilton adopted a fake surprised expression, holding a hand over his gaping mouth. “Good Lord, did Thomas Jefferson just… compliment me?”

“Don’t get used to it,” Thomas grunted as he reached for his bag, careful not to disturb the dog in his lap, and pulled out his class notes to read over.

\---

“He’s sleeping on my bed.”

“No, he’s sleeping on _my_ bed!”

Thomas sighed, frustrated. “What makes you think you’re more worthy of him than me?” he asked.

“The fact that I have the most responsibility towards him. And I named him.”

“You’ve spent most of the day with him while I went to class and got fucking dog food,” Thomas said, glaring at his roommate. “I think I deserve him.”

“Plus I’m shorter,” Hamilton added. “More space on the bed for him.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, you spread yourself out so that your left leg is in one corner of the bed and your right leg is in Pennsylvania. There is no room on that bed for the dog.”

Hamilton sighed and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. “Look, I really can’t be asked to argue about this tonight. Why don’t we just sleep on the floor with Philip tonight?”

Thomas nodded, mainly because he was sick of fighting with Hamilton tonight. “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll get the blankets ready.”

While Hamilton changed in the bathroom, Thomas lay out his double mattress on the floor and placed both his and Hamilton’s duvets and pillows on it. He couldn’t be bothered to pull Hamilton’s mattress onto the floor as well, and he wasn’t entirely sure whether there would be enough room on the floor between their beds for it anyway. Hamilton emerged from the bathroom shortly after Thomas had finished – raising an eyebrow at the lone mattress – and Thomas changed in the bathroom himself.

Hamilton was already half-asleep when Thomas left the bathroom, and Philip had taken his spot on the mattress. Thomas sighed and tapped the dog’s behind to get it to move. “Budge,” he commanded.

Hamilton grunted. “You can’t move him,” he said.

Thomas rolled his eyes. “What do you expect me to do, then?” he asked.

“Fuck off.”

Thomas sighed and squeezed into the space between Hamilton and the dog. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, darlin’,” he drawled.

“Shut up and go to sleep,” Hamilton mumbled. Thomas laughed and turned away from the immigrant, facing the dog. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through Philip’s soft fur and the dog rolled onto his side, huffing contentedly. Thomas was slowly drifting off, and then…

Arms wrapped around his waist.

Thomas froze. Hamilton appeared to be playing big spoon, and was hugging him from behind. Thomas was unused to physical contact – his only real friend was James, who was usually afraid to hug people unless they gave him an illness or vice versa. So having Hamilton hug him was a fairly new sensation, and Thomas was shocked and horrified to find that he _enjoyed_ it.

Thomas drifted into sleep, a small smile on his face from his roommate’s warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on tumblr: sunshine-soprano
> 
> ALSO did anyone else watch the University Challenge final yesterday? It was LEGENDARY.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas has a life-shattering realisation and James is very done with his shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a time jump of a few days here bc I'm lazy XD
> 
> ALSO OVER 200 HITS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER ALONE???????????? **Jefferson voice** Whaaaaaaaaaaat?? Um, I may or may not have fallen out of my chair when I saw that. Thank you all so much for reading my late-night ramblings ^_^

Thomas was startled awake by a sudden weight on his stomach. Bleary-eyed, he glanced down so see that the dog had just flopped down on top of him and promptly fallen asleep again. Thomas sighed, ready to do the same, before he realised that he was curled against someone else.

That someone being Alexander Hamilton.

They had moved in the night so that Thomas was now spooning Hamilton, and the expression on the immigrant’s face was calm and serene, something that Thomas had never seen before. It was adorable.

_What?_

_No. Don’t even go there._

Hamilton stirred, shifting in Thomas’ embrace so that he was facing him. He opened his eyes, which slowly focused on Thomas’ face. “Morning,” he said uncertainly.

“Morning,” Thomas echoed, suddenly painfully aware of how large Hamilton’s eyes were. “Did you sleep well?” He tried to keep the conversation going, hoping that his voice wouldn’t betray the thoughts flashing through his mind. This was _Hamilton_ , for god’s sake.

The man in question nodded. “That was actually the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages,” he replied. “I kind of want to steal your mattress and sleep on it forever.”

“Over my dead body,” Thomas retorted.

“Maybe I can sleep on that, as well,” Hamilton said, grinning. He yawned and sat up, Philip reacting by getting up and walking all over Thomas so that he could greet Hamilton. Thomas gasped as the air was knocked out of him. For a small dog, Philip was actually quite heavy. Hamilton laughed.

“Fuck off,” Thomas wheezed as soon as he had enough air back in his lungs. The dog started to lick his face, which didn’t exactly help his not-being-able-to-breathe situation. This only caused Hamilton to start laughing harder, and Thomas rolled off the mattress and gave him two middle fingers. “Help me move the mattress back onto my bed,” he said. “Philip can sleep with you from now on. It’s obvious he likes you more.”

Hamilton pouted as he threw his own duvet onto his bed. “That’s not true.”

“That dog has caused me nothing but suffering last night and this morning,” Thomas complained. They lifted the mattress onto his bed.

Hamilton shrugged. “Karma.”

Thomas sighed. “I don’t deserve this,” he muttered.

However, Hamilton’s attention was turned elsewhere. “Uh… Jefferson?”

“What?” Thomas responded as he smoothed his blankets down on his bed.

“You know how you were worried that Philip would shit on our homework?”

Thomas whirled around to face his roommate. “What? Please don’t tell me he shat somewhere.”

“Not exactly.”

Thomas looked past Hamilton and caught sight of his International Affairs essay on the floor. His International Affairs essay that now had a suspicious yellow stain on it…

“Fuck!” Thomas exclaimed, lifting up the damp sheets of paper with two fingers. A pungent, acrid smell was coming from the stain and he wrinkled his nose. “Oh my god. Just end my suffering now.” He could hear Hamilton fighting back laughter and he turned to glare at him. “This isn’t funny!” he cried.

“It’s quite funny.” Hamilton’s shoulders were shaking and Thomas rolled his eyes, smiling involuntarily. Hamilton laughed with his whole body. It was pretty cute.

_No. Stop that, Thomas._

“Okay, how do I fix this?”

“Hell if I know,” Hamilton replied, shrugging and picking up Philip, who was curled up on Thomas’ bed.

“You have to help me! He’s your dog!” Thomas cried.

“He’s our dog,” Hamilton corrected. “And it’s your fault that you left your essay on the floor. Look, you can print it off again and I’ll go get a litter tray so that nothing like this happens again.”

“Can we trust him in the room by himself?”

“Yes, he’s already had a pee, so he won’t be going again, and let’s just hope that he doesn’t shit on anything while we’re gone.” Hamilton swapped Philip for his backpack and made his way to the door. “Don’t be too long,” he instructed before escaping into the corridor.

Thomas crossed to the door, deciding to dispose of the foul-smelling essay in a bin outside. He looked at the dog, still sitting innocently in the middle of the room. “You. Stay. Don’t eat anything, don’t crap on anything, just… sleep. Sleep is good.” With that, he closed the door.

\---

Thomas jumped when the door burst open loudly and Hamilton hurried in. “It took me ages to find a store that sold litter trays. I’m hoping that cat litter will work on him.”

“Only one way to find out,” Thomas said, picking up Philip, with whom he had been playing since he had returned with his essay – which was now safely on his desk. Hamilton set the tray on the floor, on the other side of his bookcase so that it wouldn’t be seen from the door, and lined it with newspaper before pouring litter into it. Thomas put Philip onto it. “Pee,” he commanded.

Hamilton rolled his eyes. “You can’t just tell him to pee,” he said. “God, you’re such an idiot.”

“You’re more of an idiot,” Thomas retorted.

Hamilton snorted. “How mature. Well, we should probably feed him breakfast.”

“You’re right.” He poured the rest of the dog food in the can he had opened yesterday into the bowl he had bought and set it down. Philip immediately started to eat hungrily.

“Um,” Hamilton began, picking up a paper bag. “I also got us some breakfast. I figured you might be hungry.”

Thomas smiled, not expecting this thoughtfulness from Hamilton, and tried in vain to fight back a blush. “Thank you,” he said.

Hamilton handed him a blueberry muffin and took out a chocolate chip one for himself. “Bone app the teeth,” he said, sitting cross-legged on his bed to eat his breakfast.

Thomas sat next to him. “It’s _bon appétit_ , Hamilton,” he sighed.

“It’s a meme, you idiot,” Hamilton retorted with his mouth full, nudging Thomas. Thomas pushed back, and Hamilton shoved, hard, making Thomas fall off the bed entirely. He sat on the floor, shocked, while Hamilton stared at him. Then the immigrant burst out laughing.

“Fuck you!” Thomas exclaimed, although Hamilton’s laughter was infectious. Philip, finished with his breakfast, clambered onto Thomas’ lap and started to lick his face. Hamilton finished his muffin and stood up, still grinning.

“I have class now,” he said. “Can you hold down the fort until I get back?”

Thomas snorted. “ _Hold down the fort_? You’re such a nerd. Sure, though. I can spend some quality time with this little asshole.” He smiled down at Philip, who was licking his hands.

“Cool,” Hamilton said, picking up his backpack. “Don’t trash the room while I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry, Philip will be on his best behaviour,” Thomas replied.

“Actually, I was talking to you,” Hamilton said, grinning, before he slipped through the door.

Thomas just about had time to shout “Fuck off!” before the door closed and he was left alone with the dog. “He’s an asshole, isn’t he?” he said to Philip.

A cute asshole.

_Shut up, Thomas!_

\---

“I brought dinner,” Thomas announced as he entered the room. It had been three days since Hamilton had brought Philip to their room, and so far they hadn’t been found out. Philip had learned to use the litter box. Thomas was actually starting to grow attached to Philip. All good things.

Hamilton was sitting on the floor, playing with Philip using the rope toy that Thomas had bought the day before. He was smiling and laughing as the dog tried to pounce on the end of the toy. His eyes were shining when the immigrant looked up at Thomas and grinned at him happily.

It was at that moment that Thomas looked at Hamilton and thought to himself _I want to kiss him_.

It was at that moment that Thomas realised that he liked Alexander Hamilton.

It was at that moment that Thomas thought _oh, fuck_.

“Jefferson?” Hamilton was calling, concern now written on his face. Thomas didn’t realise that he had been staring and looked away, face flushing. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Thomas choked out, reaching inside the paper bag he was carrying and passing Hamilton a sandwich.

“Thanks,” Hamilton said, but he didn’t sound convinced with Thomas’ reply. Philip climbed onto Hamilton’s lap and tried to reach his sandwich. “No,” the immigrant said, “this isn’t for you.”

“Lie down here,” Thomas said, patting the floor next to him. Philip complied obediently.

“So how was class? Has Adams marked your essay yet?” Hamilton asked.

Thomas was trying desperately to act normal, as if his world hadn’t just turned upside down. “Nah,” he replied casually. “He won’t give it back for, like, at least two weeks. The guy barely does his job.”

Hamilton laughed, which made Thomas’ heart stop for a second. “That’s true,” he agreed.

Thomas finished his sandwich quickly and climbed onto his bed, pulling out his phone. He _had_ to talk to James. Now.

 **You** : JEMMY HELP

 **Jemmy** : I’m here what’s wrong

 **Jemmy** : I have about five minutes btw

 **You** : I LIKE HAMILTON

 **You** : I’M SCREAMING INTERNALLY

 **You** : I WOULD SCREAM EXTERNALLY BUT HAMILTON IS IN. THIS. ROOM.

 **Jemmy** : You… like Hamilton??? As more than a friend???

 **You** : YES

 **You** : WHAT DO I DO

 **Jemmy** : … tell him??

 **You** : NO THAT’S A STUPID IDEA

 **You** : HE’D REJECT ME

 **You** : HE’D LAUGH AT ME

 **You** : HE’D MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD LAUGH AT ME

 **Jemmy** : I think you’re overreacting

 **You** : I HAVE JUST DEVELOPED A CRUSH ON MY ARCH NEMESIS I DON’T THINK I’M OVERREACTING JAMES

 **Jemmy** : wow

 **Jemmy** : I still think you should tell him

 **Jemmy** : You already keep so much bottled up I’m worried you’ll explode at some point

 **You** : Awww you’re worried about me

 **Jemmy** : Of course I’m worried about you, I’m constantly worried that you’ll kill Hamilton in his sleep

 **You** : Ok but now we have the complete opposite problem on our hands

 **Jemmy** : *Your hands. I’ve already given you my solution

 **You** : I AM NOT TELLING HAMILTON I HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM

 **Jemmy** : Then I have no further suggestions

 **Jemmy** : I’ve got a date with Dolley now so good luck!!

 **You** : NO JAMES DON’T LEAVE ME AT MY MOST VULNERABLE

“Are you okay?” Thomas heard Hamilton ask. He looked up to see his roommate standing in front of his bed, frowning down at him. Thomas shoved away his immediate thoughts of _he’s so cute_.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he replied.

Hamilton continued to frown and picked up Philip to place him on Thomas’ lap. “Have a dog. They make things better,” he said. Thomas smiled softly at the bundle of fluff that was curling up on his legs. “Well, I’m going to go study with Lafayette,” Hamilton said, picking up his backpack and crossing to the door. “Did you want to come? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

Thomas couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at the mention of the Frenchman’s name (or, at least, one of his many names), but shook his head. “No, I would hate to intrude. You go on ahead, I’ll look after Philip.”

Hamilton shot a smile at Thomas – which caused his stomach to flip – and left the room, shutting the door behind him. As soon as he was alone, Thomas groaned and flopped onto his side. Why did he have to mess everything up now with a stupid crush?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come and yell at me on tumblr: sunshine-soprano


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension is resolved. (but not until fairly late into the chapter haha)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Thomas Jefferson's birthday!!
> 
> Have some fluff to celebrate ^_^
> 
> ALSO over 300 hits?? What??

Thomas was interrupted from writing another International Affairs essay – even though Adams seemed to be constantly set on doing the bare minimum for his job, he had no problem with setting his students unnecessary amounts of work – by Hamilton’s phone ringing at an obnoxiously loud volume. “Yo, Hamilton?” he called, looking up from his laptop at the immigrant, who was also writing. He was always either writing or talking. Sometimes both. Thomas groaned when Hamilton didn’t reply, which meant that he was most likely having tunnel vision on the project he was working on. The Virginian got up from his bed and carried Hamilton’s phone to him. “Hey, idiot,” he said, poking his roommate and trying not to think about the jump that his heart did at the contact.

Hamilton stirred and looked at Thomas with unfocused eyes. “Mmm? What do you want, Jefferson?” he asked.

Thomas held out Hamilton’s phone. “Laurens is calling you,” he said, pointing at the name on the screen.

Hamilton grabbed the phone and answered the call. “Yo,” he greeted, smiling excitedly. Even though it wasn’t directed at him, the smile made Jefferson’s heart leap. Hamilton was just so cute. “What?” the immigrant asked, his smile quickly fading. “Hang on, how long have you known…? Shit…” he breathed before thanking Laurens and hanging up. He looked up at Thomas. “The wardens are coming around the dorm rooms to do an inspection,” he said. “John thinks that we have approximately three minutes before they come to ours.”

Thomas glanced at Philip, who was napping on his pillow. “And he’s known about Philip for how long?”

Hamilton shrugged. “Almost as long as we’ve had him. Apparently, he could smell dog when he visited last week.”

Thomas groaned. “Okay, we can talk about that later but first we need to hide the dog.”

Alex grabbed the duffel bag that he had brought Philip back to their dorm in over a week ago and Thomas dropped the unsuspecting dog in it. “Sorry, Philip,” Alex said as he hung the bag up in their closet, “hopefully this won’t be for too long.”

Thomas took the litter tray and hid it under his bed, obscuring it from view with a couple of his suitcases. Hamilton emptied the water bowl into their bathroom sink and hid that and the food bowl behind some sweaters in the closet, where he also put the cans of dog food and the bag of treats. Thomas sprayed the whole room with air freshener to try and obscure the dog scent. This, however, only led to Hamilton coughing overdramatically. “Jesus Christ, Jefferson!” the immigrant exclaimed. “That stinks!”

“It smells better than dog piss,” Thomas retorted before there was a knock at the door. “Fuck,” he exclaimed under his breath, spraying more air freshener just to be sure. “Check the bins, the desk, everything,” he instructed Hamilton. “Make sure there’s absolutely no way to tell there’s been a dog in here.”

Hamilton obediently checked every corner of the room, flitting from bed to bins to their tatty couch. “I can’t see anything,” he said. There was another knock at the door.

“Coming!” Thomas called. He pulled a face at Hamilton, threw him the air freshener and opened the door. “Afternoon, sir,” he drawled, a dazzling smile plastered on his face to mask the nervous butterflies in his stomach. They had managed to get through more than a week with Philip, they couldn’t get caught now.

The warden had an equally fake smile on his face, and his mousy brown hair was swept into what was almost a bowl cut. Thomas tried not to laugh at the old-fashioned style. “Good afternoon. We’re doing mandatory room inspections today. Nothing to worry about if you’ve been sticking to the rules.” _Which Thomas and Hamilton really hadn’t been doing_. “May I come in?”

Thomas opened the door wider so that the warden could enter the room. Hamilton was lounging casually on his bed. “Afternoon,” he greeted, his level tone not betraying anything.

“Good afternoon,” the warden repeated politely as he glanced around the room. “It all looks pretty tidy, which is wonderful,” he said, scanning over the desks and checking under the tables and beds. Thomas held his breath as he looked under his own bed, hoping that he wouldn’t find the litter tray.

“That’s all Thomas’ fault,” Hamilton said. Thomas’ heart did a little jump as the immigrant said his first name. It sounded so nice coming out of his mouth. “I’m generally more messy, but my obnoxious roommate won’t have any of that.” Thomas glared at him, but the teasing look in Hamilton’s eyes made him melt just a little.

“You really should take a leaf out of his book,” the warden said. “Studies have shown that people are more productive in tidier environments.”

Thomas laughed. “Well, we definitely don’t need to make Alexander more productive,” he said, throwing an arm around Hamilton’s shoulders. He felt the shorter man freeze and he panicked, making himself talk a little more. “He practically works himself to death anyway.” Had he just overstepped a line? Hamilton _had_ turned their bed-sharing last week into an impromptu spooning session, but they were both only half-conscious then.

The warden stuck his head into their bathroom for a second before moving onto the closet. Thomas could feel Hamilton tense up, hoping that Philip wouldn’t be disturbed in his bag and make a noise. He removed his arm from around Hamilton’s shoulders and found his hand, intertwining their fingers. Hamilton squeezed slightly, seemingly unaware of how hard Thomas’ heart was beating.

After what seemed like years, the warden finally finished his inspection of the closet and stepped out, closing the door behind him. “Well, everything seems in order,” he said, his gaze flicking from Thomas to Hamilton, and then to their intertwined hands. The roommates let go of each other quickly, both blushing. “Thank you for letting me inspect your room,” the warden said, smiling slightly.

“Thanks for, uh, not breaking down the door in impatience,” Thomas replied before mentally kicking himself. What a dumb thing to say. Hamilton was surely judging him now.

Suddenly Thomas heard a bark from the closet. Fuck. He tried to cover it up with a sneeze just as the warden turned around, frowning. “Bless you!” Hamilton said, catching onto what Thomas was trying to do. He sneezed again. “Bless you!” Hamilton repeated.

“You know what they say, they come in threes,” the warden said brightly.

“Nah, I think I’ve stopped,” Thomas said. Then there was another bark. Hamilton managed to cover it up with a sneeze that time. “Bless you!” Thomas said. “I didn’t realise sneezes were contagious.”

“They’re not normally,” the warden said before shrugging. “Anyway, have a good day.”

“You too,” Thomas and Hamilton both chorused as the door closed.

Thomas let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. “That was so close,” he said.

Hamilton immediately took Philip out of the closet and placed him on the floor. The dog immediately resumed his nap on Thomas’ pillow. “Sneezing to cover up a noise? Really?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

Thomas shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”

Hamilton laughed. “It did. I can’t believe it, but it did. We did it.” He bounced into Thomas’ chest and hugged him.

Meanwhile, Thomas was trying to remember how to breathe. Hamilton was just so warm, and it was just like last week when they had shared Thomas’ mattress. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through Hamilton’s hair and… _dear lord, was that soft_. He could see Philip looking at him on his bed, silently judging him.

Thomas was in deep and he knew it.

\---

Philip was curled up in Thomas’ lap, looking up at him with massive dark eyes. Thomas couldn’t help but smile at the dog as he stroked his soft golden fur. Philip leaned into the touch and let out a happy huff of breath.

Thomas pulled a face. “God, your breath stinks,” he said. “I should get you a toothbrush or a breath mint or something. It’s a good thing you’re cute to make up for it,” he continued, scratching behind Philip’s ear. “You’re probably the second cutest thing on earth. Second only to Hamilton.”

“What?” Thomas heard over his shoulder and he whirled around to see Hamilton at the door. He hadn’t realised his roommate had returned from class; usually the immigrant was obnoxious enough to burst through the door, already yelling at Thomas about something or other.

“Hamilton?” he squeaked out.

“What did you just say?” Hamilton asked, his voice low and expression clouded.

Thomas stood up nervously, placing Philip on the floor. “What did you think I said?” he asked uncertainly.

Hamilton let out a syllable of a laugh. “That I’m cute,” he replied.

Thomas forced himself to smile. “You are. Look at you, you’re adorable. You’re so short and angry.”

Hamilton scowled at him. “I’m not adorable,” he muttered.

Thomas laughed “Yes, you are!” he exclaimed.

Hamilton glared at Thomas and crossed the room towards him – that is, he tried to. Philip was still watching them from the middle of the room, and Hamilton tripped over the tiny dog so that he was sent flying into Thomas. Thomas tried to catch him, but ended up losing balance as well, landing on the floor with Hamilton lying on top of him. He winced at the pain and shock of landing on his back and gasped for breath as the wind had been knocked out of him. Hamilton was staring at him, wide-eyed in shock, a blush spreading quickly across his cheeks. “Uh…” he said eloquently.

Thomas couldn’t take it any longer. Before he could think twice, he reached up and placed a quick kiss on Hamilton’s lips. Hamilton’s eyes widened even more and Thomas blushed, quickly regretting what he’d just done. “Um, you know what, just forget about that,” he began to ramble, “it was a mistake, oh fuck, I’ve overstepped a line. Crap-”

“Shut up and kiss me again, you asshole,” Hamilton cut him off, rolling his eyes.

Thomas stared at him. “Say what?” he breathed, unsure of whether his ears were playing tricks on him.

Hamilton sighed. “You heard me,” he replied. “I know you think I’m cute, and in a different way to Philip’s kind of cute. You like me.” He smiled teasingly.

“So what if I do?” Thomas retorted, his mouth speaking before his mind could catch up. Scratch that, his mind had been left behind about thirty seconds ago. Hamilton simply laughed. “Seriously!” Thomas said. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

“This,” Hamilton said before closing the distance between them again.

Which was when Thomas’ brain stopped working. Hamilton’s lips were rough and chapped and worked against Thomas’ in perfect time, as if they were two jigsaw pieces that fit together. Hamilton’s tongue darted into Thomas’ mouth and licked his lips, making him moan. It was all he could do to tangle his fingers in Hamilton’s hair.

Eventually they both had to come up for air. “You walked right into that one, idiot,” Hamilton said breathlessly. Thomas thought he could detect a hint of fondness in his voice.

“I meant to, darlin’,” Thomas drawled, planting a kiss on Hamilton’s nose. The smaller man immediately turned a deeper shade of red as he buried his face into Thomas’ chest.

“That’s not fair!” he whined into Thomas’ shirt. “You can’t just kiss my nose without warning!”

Thomas laughed. “It seems I’ve found your weakness, Hamilton,” he said, running his fingers through his roommate’s hair.

Hamilton looked up at him. “And yours is clearly physical contact in any shape or form, Jefferson,” he retorted, reaching up to poke Thomas’ nose.

Thomas pulled a face and sat up, maneuvering Hamilton so that he sat on his lap. Philip was watching them both from Thomas’ bed. “Okay, we need to talk about this,” he said.

Hamilton nodded. “How long have we been oblivious idiots for?”

“I’ve liked you for a little over a week now,” Thomas confessed. “When I was watching you playing with Philip.”

Hamilton laughed. “I’ve liked you ever since that first time you tried to debate with Washington about American involvement in the French Revolution in our history class freshman year. He totally roasted you on that debate but I could see how passionate you were about the subject, even though you were wrong.”

Thomas laughed. Hamilton had liked him since the start of college? “Okay, you definitely win on that one,” he said. "And I was not wrong! The Americans should have stuck to their side of the agreement."

“I was doing pretty well on covering it up, though,” Hamilton continued, ignoring Thomas' protests. “You’re just a dumbass.”

“A dumbass whom you like,” Thomas shot back, and Hamilton kissed him again.

“Of course.”

“Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?” Thomas asked, remembering the night when this had all started. Philip didn’t look like he was going to move from his spot on Thomas’ pillow anytime soon.

“ _Just_ sleep?” Alex questioned, raising an eyebrow. Thomas simply winked at him.

Safe to say they didn’t sleep that night. Not until very late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (is it too obvious that I modelled the warden after a certain character in Hamilton??)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, every comment and kudos that I get is very much appreciated.
> 
> Come and yell at me on tumblr my username is sunshine-soprano
> 
> ^_^


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